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Most of us have lived about 21 years on average… yet a few handpicked days go on to make a difference and shape the courses of our lives… how often do you wake up and realize that this will be one of those days…………

*********

My place, July 07, 2003. 0630 HRS.

School, One’s mom attacks, movie day, Batman at my place, My friends at one’s place…the previous day has not even sunk in when Mum woke me up…

Mum: Ananya is on the phone.

It took me a few seconds to realize where I was and what was happening. I slowly unmuted the phone and answered it with a blank mind.

Ananya: Bad morning, Arjun.

The blank mind filled itself up with all of last day’s events. The greeting gave it a negative finish.

Me: Yea, good morning to you too.

Ananya: Are you guys gone mad ?

Me: (smiling) Now none of this is making any sense to me…

Ananya: What did you guys do last evening ?

Me: (Not sure which part of the eventful day she was referring to) errr…. What did we do ?

Ananya: You guys went to One’s house, got her brother out and threatened to hurt him of he doesnt free his sister.

Me: Am sorry, my version of this is a lil different. We spok….

Ananya: ..doesnt matter what your version is. She has a different version.

Me: Why, what does she want now ?

Ananya: ‘She’ is the correspondent.

I froze for a minute. What was she doing at One’s place ?

Me: Right, Ananya. Do me a favour. Exactly, tell me what happened and is happening without the use of any pronouns.

Ananya: OMG. You guys went to one’s place like gangsters, got her brother outta the house and threatened him to let One talk to you or you were gonna hurt him there. He got all scared and agreed to let you guys away. Now, her mum has gone to complain to the correspondent about your mission and I dont know whts gonna happen.

I sat there emotion-less and speech-less for a second. My mind immediately processed some algorithms. The guys went to her place pretty late in the evening.. must have been 8-ish when they left. Now, its 0700 am.. there s no way her mum could hv gone to corres’ house in the interim.

Me: can I talk to One now ?

Ananya: You are unbelievable.

Me: Yes, ppl often say that. Now, you call her and find out if things are under control. If she s good to talk, then i ll call her.

Ananya: Right, I ll enter first and take the bullet. Then, you make heroic entry.

Com’on. Hasnt she watched it in the movies ? The best friend dies so that the hero gets the girl.

Me: Shut up. Call her. pleaaaaase..

Ananya: No, One asked me or any of you guys not to call her.

Everything well in place now.

I slowly got up to brush. A few mins later, the phone rang again… Now what ?

It was Yats’ mom.

Yats’ mom: Arjun, Whats happening.

Me:……

Yats’ mom: Can you come here ?

Me: Sure aunty, I will. Can I talk to Yats ?

Yats: Dude…

Me: Dude ???

Yats: What do you want me to say ?

Me: Anything nice…

Yats: I will. Come here, fast.

There was a remote possiblity of going to One’s place today and so, I quickly had a shower. Sadly, I had to skip breakfast. The phone buzzed again.

Yats: Update! One’s mum and brother are in Corres’ house now. No prizes for guessing wht they re talking about. Bye.

My heart started racing at full speed. I almost fell out of breath. I switched on the tv to get some distraction. The city had a local channel owned by the cable services and they used to telecast local events among other things. As I was switching the channels I happened to go past the local channel and noticed Corress’ face on it. Surely, this was haunting. I flipped back and well… it was her. She was being interviewed on this show called ’10 ways to poke your nose into other people’s lives and destroy it’. Mum was behind me and she said, “Leave it on… now that you re going out..”. I was surprised she didnt ask me where I was going this early but guessed she had given up. I tied my shoes and the phone rang again.

JD: Dude, you ok ?

That question was to be repeated throughout the day… and a few more months.

Me: Noooo..

JD: Come to Yats’ place.

Me: Ofcos.

Ofcos. Yats’ place was like a temple. Ecstacy or agony – things always took place there.

I looked into the mirror before starting… a superstition back then. The swoosh looked good on me. Just as I was about to leave home…

Dad: Its a Sunday and even by the time I get up, the phone has rung a million times and… and where are you going ? Jogging ?

Me: Good morning to you too… Go, watch tv or something…

*********

Yats’ place. 0800 HRS

Kumar a.k.a Kummi : Disaster…..

Me: What did you guys exactly do ?

Saddy (smiles) : This is big dude.

What all adjectives. This is not some glacier in front of the Titanic.

Panky : Hi.

Me: Ofcos, Hi. How s everyone doing ?

Voice from behind: Dont overact.

Guess we all know who that is.

Me: My man, what happenend ? Please tell me.

Yats: We happened to talk to Akki (One’s brother) and he took it a little seriously.

Me: Oh, you mean a little tooo seriously ?

Yats (louder voice) : What do you want us to do now ?

Even now, the guy doesnt calm down.

Me: Nothing. Definitely dont do anything more than this.

A bike stopped and parked on the outside. The guy got down with a pivot on the left leg. Got his shades off. Ran his fingers through his hair. Everytime when JD enters the scene, there is style but nobody seems to give a damn. Everyone looked away.

Yats’ mom: Oh, so the entire gang is here !?!

JD: Hello aunty.

Yats’ mom: I guess this is not the first time in the last 24 hours that you guys are standing as a gang outside someone’s house.

Amazing. Even aunty ! Sarcasm was becoming contagious in the Shah household.

Yats’ mom: What is happening ? I understand you are responsible for all this.

I didnt say a word. Didnt look her in the eye.

Yats’ mom: One’s mom is calling me and asking embarrasing questions. You guys are putting all the families in a lot of trouble.

No one said a word.

Yats’ mom: You actually called her brother out of the house when there were guests in their place…

What ? Did they ? That was the worst mistake to do… there are families which live in a society… but then, there are families which live for the society. The latter families never cared what their children wanted. All they were bothered about was ‘What will people think ?’. I shook my head within myself. Now, that obviously heats things up in her house.

Yats’ mom: … and told her brother, “Let her talk to Arjun or we wont let you walk into school”. What are you, rowdies ?

I slowly started losing my breath. This is getting worse by every sentence she says. Which hero told all this ? My intention was to make friends with her brother and family – not to kidnap him and ask for the girl as ransom. When Yats called me last night, it was simply ‘we asked him and he said ok’. He obviously censored the other part.

Yats’ mom: and which one of you showed a knife to him ?

I almost fainted. Knife ? This is getting a little too serious now. I stopped forming any excuses or justifications in my mind and started preparing for a very long day and year. If this was Yats’ mom, I could imagine Corres’ reaction.

Yats’ mom: Com’ on Arjun. Speak up. You give so many speeches in the assembly.

I kept quiet and hoped something happened. The phone rang. Aunty’s face pretty much said what I felt in the morning – Now what ?

I guess it couldnt have got any worse. I looked at the guys around.

Yats: Sit guys.

Ah. I was proud of the fact that our guy didnt forget his guest-welcoming skills amidst tragedy.

JD: Can I have some water ?

Now, this is taking that a lil too far.

Me: Yea, bring toast and coffee as well.

JD: Dude…

Me: Dont dude me (walking a lil away). What the fuck did you guys think you were doing ? Why would you threaten him ? Now, how am I supposed to ever patch things up with her family ?

Yats: So thats your problem ?

Me: Yea, that too… I cant believe you are justifying this.

Yats kept quiet.

Me: And who the fuck carried a knife ? What are we – Godfather and Italian mafia ?

Kummi: But they carry guns.

Me: Dude, you better shut up.

Kummi: What are you over-reacting for ?

Right. Now, I am over-reacting.

Kummi: We went there with noble intentions. Just that it got a little aggressive along the way.

It was unbelievable how cool the guys were.

Yats: Listen, things are not as bad as they sound. It was just that there were so many people around him when we spoke that it looked aggressive… and we never showed him a knife. Thats an exaggeration. Kummi showed this pencil-sharpening blade. So, you can imagine how everything else is similarly blown out of proportion.

That was Yats’ sweet way of turning the bottle towards Kummi. I looked at Kummi.

Me: Do you carry a pencil-blade with you ?

Kummi: Yesterday, I happened to.

Me: Did you carry a pencil ?

Kummi: NO.

Me: Then why the fuck did you carry the pencil-blade ?

Panky caught me by the shoulders and made me sit down.

Panky: You dont make any sense.

It was amazing how the guys actually made me feel useless and worthless.

JD: Yats, the water I asked for dude.

Yats: Hang on JD. Guys, is there anything we can do to settle this down ?

By asking the question, Yats made sure he doesnt have to answer it.

Me: Yeah, maybe talk to her parents. Oh wait, you guys already did that. Thats why we are here.

Panky: Why do you keep saying ‘you guys’ ? We did it for you.

Emotional blackmail. Bastards. I hung my head. Well, in a way, yes. Actually, in all ways, Yes. It was for Me. How could I possibly explain to them that I loved the fact that they wanted to do something for me.. but certainly not that way. I am pretty sure I would have come up with a way to talk to her parents about this. But then, that would have meant I alone would have been in trouble. So yea, I ll take this.

Me: Anybody has got any decent plans ?

Voice: Oh, you are already making more plans now ? Now what, kidnap her family ?

It was Raj uncle, Yats’ uncle who lived nextdoor.

Raj Uncle: Can I talk to you guys for a min ?

Right then. Round 2. This was turning into a boxing match. We were the opponents whose hands were unfairly tied.

Raj Uncle sat. I made sure I maintained a proper distance in case he decides to convert the boxing simulation to live. All of us had already got into the position of hands tied and hung heads.

Raj Uncle: What were you guys doing last night ?

I wanted to say: Oh uncle, my armed-mates were crashing into my girlfriend’s house while I was getting slapped at home by mum. What did you have for dinner?

Raj Uncle: (after the mini recollection of threatening, knife-holding) Whose girl-friend here is One ?

I proudly put my hand up.

Raj Uncle: Whats your name ?

Ah. I just realised we had not been formally introduced. Raj Uncle was actually going after my case all this while even without knowing who I was.

Me: Hello uncle, I am Arjun (put my hands forward).

Raj uncle was a gentleman. We shook hands. For the rest of the day, I was only shaking my head.

He checked on my family credentials.

Raj Uncle: Oh, I know your dad.

Hang on. Isnt that the line people say to Yats – I know your dad ? Now, how does he know my Dad ? Damn Google. Every person that day was bringing a new bad news.

Raj Uncle: You couldnt go yourself and so you sent your friends.

I went back to default head-hanging position. My image and bravery were being seriously tarnished here. This is gonna take some recovery.

Yats: No, he never knew about it. We went ourselves.

Raj Uncle: Oh, for a friend ? (sarcastically)

Yats: Yes.

Raj Uncle: Shut up.

Thats funny. Then why did he ask. The attention was back on me.

Raj Uncle: Do you know how bad your parents will feel when they come to know ? I know it. My elder son is a good kid but when my younger son gets complaints like ‘he hit my son, he threw stones’, I get very embarrassed.

Damn. Elder brothers suck. It suddenly struck my mind that Raj uncle’s younger son, Yats’ lil cousin brother – Prats was in the same class as One’s younger sister, Soni. I laughed at the possibility that Me and Prats could be relatives one day and her family will have two maniac, troublesome son-in-laws. And yea, Raj uncle and One’s dad were college friends and are family friends ever since. Obviously, sharing the bench was a genetic feature. Damn, it was a small city and every fucking person knew each other like in some short story. I promised myself that if I am ever going to have another girlfriend, she will be from an anti-social family based out of the Siberian caves, whose parents have never had friends.

Raj Uncle: Do you have any idea how much this will impact your future ? I should say, you guys have great unity. Your team-work, spirit and organisation are pretty good. But you use it for the wrong reasons.

Suddenly, we sounded like the Al-Qaeda.

Raj Uncle: You guys can change things around you. You can organise a network to clean-up the city. You can do anything you like. Just make sure the things you like are the correct ones.

Jokes apart, that line of Raj Uncle sprung up years later, when I was reading my diary and went on to influence a life-changing decision I made. Not that you guys care, but am trying to let you guys know how every element of that day shaped a part of each person involved.

Raj Uncle: But this time, no one is going to save you.

Knockout punch ! Thanks for the blessing. Will someone ring the bell please. My hung-head slowly started to ache the neck. Legs were aching cos of standing. I wasnt used to staying quiet for this long and I started to get bored now. Kummi almost slept standing there. Eventually, Raj uncle was done.

All this while Yats stood there with an innocent face like the kid in ‘Taare Zameen Par – Every child is special’.

Nobody spoke a word. The date of 07/07 on my watch caught my attention. Please, no useless numbers now. This was supposed to be the day I was going to tell my friends about me asking One out. I am sure most of them guessed it when I stupidly put my hand up to Raj Uncle’s “whose girlfriend is One” question. Or maybe, they didnt pay attention. Am sure Yats did. It was only a matter of us being alone and he will bring it up.

Yats’ mom broke my mental maths.

Yats’ mom: I just spoke to Corress. You guys should go there and talk to her.

Cant she talk to One’s mom and we go, talk to her ? I thought of One’s mom for a sec. Its ok, we will meet Corress.

JD: Dude, can I have the water ?

Me: JD, shut up and die.

Panky (pushing him towards the garden pipe) Go, suck into that pipe and drink water. Shut up now.

JD: I wont go to Corress’ house.

Me: You fuckin will. All of us will. And you wont open your mouth.

JD: You shut up. I wont.

I couldnt beleive he was sayin this after all that was happening. Yats noticed the fury, came towards JD and slowly pushed him back towards the wall holding his shoulders. JD’s head slowly rested on the wall. Yats went close. For a second, I thought they were gonna kiss. But then, Yats said something like ‘clam down, we will go there and work things out. We wont compromise’.

My first direct meeting with the enemy was at their fort. And I am unarmed. I have no case. Basically, am fucked.

***************

Corress’ place, 1200 HRS

Corress: Wait outside, let me bring a chair.

Yats: Damn, we dont need this. Last thing we want is getting insulted by this idiot.

Me: Calm down, its her day. Out of our control.

The disgust on JD’s face on being there and expecting to be treated like crap by Corress was evident on his face. He probably hated her more than all of us  due to a combination of multiplying reasons in the past. Panky and Saddy were sharing a joke as Corress walked out with a chair, only for her. To be honest, after all the ‘culture’ crap she has been feeding all these years, she didnt have the basic manners of treating guests at home – no matter who they are – a feature, the so-called ‘rebel’ maverick Yats and his parents had, when we were at his place that morning.

The firing started and was fierce from the first shot – like we expected anything else. It was like a gang war at school – her team looking for an opportunity to nail us down. Everytime, we had been getting away due to smartness, luck and sometimes plain, unreasonable simplicity. All the anger and skeletons buried were being taken out of the closet that day. But in spite of all the hostility we were expecting, this was getting more serious. a lot more serious.

Corress: I just gave this interview a few days ago about how our boys always protect the girls wherever they are… and Arjun, your mom called me this morning to congratulate me about it and at the same time, One’s mom is here complaining about you guys. You can imagine how I would have felt.

Damn. My mom just cant shut up. What would she be Indian Larry King and be gratty to people. And Corress of all people… I hung my head as the guys looked at me with sickness and disgust. I was ashamed of what my mom had done to the opposite camp. You can imagine how I would have felt… and protecting girls. Now, this is taking things a lil misinterpreted. Yes, we protect the girls. But then, we protect ‘our’ girls more. and they are ‘our’ girls for a reason. We are together. Its like a man-to-woman marking defense strategy. And the girls like being with us. I dont see a problem. Corress surely lives in a bubble.

Corress: And am sure you guys dont go to school to study anymore. I know what each of you is upto.

None of us understood what that meant. But we knew the next few sentences could be make or break. or shud I say break.

Corress: All of you have a girlfriend… and in some cases, more than one (looking at Panky).

Mavericks: ……………..

Corress: You guys charted this master-plan to take your respective girls for the movie yesterday. Perfectly set all the people and parents up. Organised who s picking who up and where. These brains can surely work for something more creative. Yats has a girl from Yosef school. Arjun has One. Kummi likes Shal. Panky has a girl in Luny, Yosef… i have lost count now. There s another guy who likes Ani. Is there anyone single ?

Mavericks: ……………..

Corress: Yats is apparently the mastermind. Never realised you had so much talent. And kummi, you dared to carry a knife with you ? What do you guys think you are ? Like some tamil movie, you are tryin to elope the heroine for the hero. This is completely intolerable. You guys with your lifestyle, girlfriend and activities are going way beyond the limit.

There were lots of parallel, confusing thoughts running in my mind. Besides the shock, how did she come to know all this ? So much in depth and detail. Yes, each line of it is true except the knife part. But the pencil blade is not going to reveal academic brilliance, so avoid. The scarier part was what more did she know ? Was there a rat among us ? Lets find out I thought.

Me: Not all of that is true ma’m.

Corress: Really, now you will tell me what is true and what is not ? Go on. Tell me.

Me: Me and One are not in a relationship… neither are the others.

No one noded. Idiots.

Me: When we went there, it was not to elope or hijack her. It was only to talk to her brother and clear any misunderstanding. Obviously, the method we used was not the correct one and we realise that.

I thought that was a well-framed, neat defensive sentence. Corress didnt think so.

Corress: Stop bloughing. You told One about all your friends’ relationships – who s with who, how and everything. Did you lie to her as well ? Because, she told me all this.. and a lot more.

I froze for the moment. Being me, the first thought that popped in my mind was if Corress was playing a game. Is she trying to see if we will accept stuff by ourselves. But then, if One really has told all this and we try acting smart and denying, we are in deep shit. Catch 22. Silence was the best option and we chose that.

Corress: And Panky now, likes a new girl and wants One’s help with that. I have no idea where this is going.

Neither did I. Surely, this has to be One. Only Panky, Yats, JD and I knew this. Damn sure none of them is a rat. I took a deep breath. My girl-friend is in deep trouble with her parents. My friends’ attempted mission for my sake was a disaster and we are in deep shit. Everyone’s every possible detail was out. And now, my girl has turned all of us in. This was slowly becoming the worst day of my life. All I can do about is stay quiet and watch it roll.

Corress: I think I will have to suspend you guys from school for 2 days, strip off all your postings in the school. No body will know the reason. But that way, it will be a lesson for the other students on what will happen if you take bad ways.

Nobody will know the reason.. so how will they get the lesson ? Commendable logic ! Why dont you just say, “Bastards, I got the plot. You have been caught red-handed, the heroine is my witness and I have the case. Now, you are fucked.”

The number of times we said sorry never ended for the rest of the afternoon. With complete anger and utmost grudge, we knew it was her day and we had to give it to her. One lesson learnt the hard way – never commit such blunders where you are completely defense-less and you have to suffer, speechless at the hands of the enemy. Cos if you screw up, no one is gonna show any mercy.

For the next few hours, the discussion strayed from the attack on One’s house to our relationships, our activities and even our interests. Obviously, it was a one-sided game with Corress scoring from every pass… like player 2′s device was not working. What else do you expect other than a complete thrashing. Thrashing it was. Mavericks were being put to the sword. I cant help but recalling my friend’s analogy a few years later : “You know you want it. Badly. Really do. But somehow you just cant get hold of it. Always denied. Like some tease. And then, one day, its there. you get it. What happens? “. It happened that day at Corress’s place.

I quickly realised that it was the relationship part that was hurting us more. I felt more guilty about this than before when I realised the guys did it for me. I was still trying to convince myself that One had a good reason to do this… I understand a head nod. But every single detail ? I am sure Corress knew what my email password was. Description and detail to the finest level. Everytime, Corress mentioned “Arjun told One and One told me..”, I felt like I was  responsible for the whole thing. Another lesson learnt – yes, she s your girlfriend. But never disclose every minute thing to her. Its good for the both of you. Not to say that every girl would have done the same. The looks towards me were getting dirtier. I wish the jetpack from tht Dave game was true and I could fly off from there.

She told us to go home now and that we will be suspended.

Corress: It will be displayed on the notice board tomorrow.

Ofcos, she had to declare victory. For some reason, I misheard ‘notice board’ as newspaper. Maybe I didnt mishear.

We went back in total guilt, failure, tiredness and anger. I was hoping the guys wouldnt murder me, now that we are suspended anyways. Back to Yats’ place. The guys dispersed to random places in and around the house for food, water and shelter. Me and Yats were on the swing couch. I slowly looked at him and told him,

Me: I love One.

Yats turned away. Rude fuck.

Yats: Doesnt matter anymore.

Me: Not that. I was going to tell you guys today but…

Yats: I know that. You didnt say a word against her. I mean, all the guys are scolding her for being the fuckin rat. I know you feel the worst about this and her role in this. But you never said a word against her inspite of her epic biographies of your friends to Corress… and when Raj uncle asked ‘whose gf is One’, you out your hand up like you were answering attendance call.

I was not sure if he was consoling me or rubbing it in. The guys started assembling back.

Yats (as he got up): You tell them that you love her. I wont.

After all this, I was not sure if they would hug me in ecstasy on hearing the name. I put my head down on my knees. I had no clue of what to do. Lets formulate this. My friends felt bad for me and approached her brother. Wrong way, yes, but it was cos they connected with me and One. We are in trouble because of ourselves, but it was for her and I. And then what happens ? She turns them in. The irony was striking. What else has she told Corress about ? Thank goodness, she left the bet part and all that alone. JD put a hand on my shoulders.

JD: Are you ok ?

Me: I am sorry.

JD: Why should you apologise for that fucking…….. its ok. Dont be.

Me: I never knew she would do this. I cant think of a reason of why she did this. I still dont think she did it.

JD: Calm down. I understand your state of denial. We didnt do anything great last night either. She only returned the favour.

We chatted for sometime and decided we will roll the dice one last time. We decided to re-enter enemy camp hoping Corress would have recovered from her victory celebrations and hoped a change of mind.

——————————–

Corress’ place. 1600 hrs.

Corress: The boys are back !

Yea, Backstreet’s back. I always liked her sarcasm.

Yats: Sorry ma’m. Dont suspend us.

Not bad. The guy was down to business straight away.

The ‘sorry-no’ saga went on for sometime. Then the lessons on behaviour, character went on.

Corress: If wealth is lost, nothing is lost. If health is lost, something is lost. If character is lost, everything is lost.

Yawnnnnn.. If iphone is lost, all my contacts are lost and the award-winning American series is Lost. Seriously, why cant you skip the lesson and tell us the decision fast. I am hungry now.

I looked around to distract myself from the boredom. I noticed Corress’ garden. It was July and autumn hadnt even set in. There were loadsa dry leaves and dirt among the plants, in serious need of some attention. Reminded me of the analogy – clean you house before you clean the world. Just then, Corress’ line discontinued my attempt at Botany.

Corress: The point is you guys were trying to harm her brother for no reason.

JD: No ma’m. She is willing to talk to him ma’m. Its her brother who is not letting her talk.

Corress got up from her chair and slapped JD on his left cheek. We were all quite stunned at her reaction and more stunned by JD’s words. Really, all that we were telling her about realising the mistake, feeling bad and all that was down the drain. I wished we could slap him as well. The whole expression on JD’s face was so funny that Yats, Panky and I laughed. Thankfully, Yats didnt laugh like he normally does. The timing of JD, at a time when we were looking like convincing her, was brilliant. This whole exercise did not have any effect on him ? Hilarious. Surely, there must be a miracle left for us. Only that can save us now. Corress went on a marathon.

Corress: Alright JD. Tomorrow I will ask Yats to take your sister out. Lets see what you will do.

JD looked at Yats like he was actually gonna do it. I was hoping Jd didnt say anything like “No ma’m. I wont say anything”. She would have probably suspended us first and then expelled us.

None of us had ever seen Corress slapping someone. JD gave us a first. He always likes to be the first in things. It was clear that Corress’s tactical game was slowly wearing us down. We were beginning to say and do things we would never have. I knew I had to say something to steady this right there. Something nobody had ever told before. Like the line of the century or something. I took a deep breath and said it.

Me: We are sorry ma’m.

Corress: Shut up Arjun.

Damn. That was not the line.

Corress : Fine. I wont suspend you. But I want to talk your parents. Bring them. Now.

Parents ? Can you just suspend us, am ready to walk away.
—————————-

Corress’ house. 1800 hrs.

None of this made any sense anymore. It was like things were happening around me in full speed and I was standing there blurred and helpless. The day was getting longer. All the parents were there. Yats’ mom, JD’s dad, Panky’s dad, Kummi’s dad and my Mom. The look on their faces was embarrassing. If at all there was a day when I let mom down, it was that day. None of us had the guts to look into their eyes. To an extent Yats’ mom was amidst the action and she was trying to tell the other parents what had happened cos none of them had a clue. In normal days, we hardly meet JD’ dad but I remember the first time I was at his place back in the days when my face read ‘I am innocent’. I recollected our meeting and our conversation about Cal. I had the highest respect for him. Co-incidentally, that was the day JD and I framed the bet. Does this rewind button work at all ?

As the parents were together, Yats and I discussed.

Yats: You can understand what Corress did. If One was there with us here, One will never tell her all these stuff about us. So, she used the opportunity and got things out of One, knowing that you would have told One all your secrets. One had no idea of Corress’ cunningness and she gave in. Politician, our Corress in.

Slowly the reverse psychology set in.

Me: Hang on, is she doing the same to us now ?

Yats: As in ?

Me: One, in front of her parents had no option but to tell the truth… turn us in. She s hoping we will do the same in front of our parents and turn each other in. So, she called our parents and see us, one at a time.

Brilliant. In no time, we called the guys together and explained the logic of this. They got it right away. Such things went in very easily for us.

JD: But no one s gonna do anything like that.

Everyone nodded. When we turned, we saw our parents looking at us with disgust. We returned to the day’s default position of hanging head.

JD and his dad were first. When they returned, his dad was talking to him first, and judging by JD’s reaction, it didnt go well. What did Corress tell his dad ? About Vids ? Please… JD’s dad knew more probably. Next was Yats and his mom. I didnt know what to expect when my turn came up.

Corress: I dont know what to tell you. You called me in the morning to wish me on the interview and now, am interviewing you about your son.

Mom: What are you going to do to him ma’m ?

I looked at mom with surprise. What sort of a line is that ? “What are you going to do to him ?”. She s gonna put me on the gullitone and butcher my head in Hostel 2 style. Are you gonna say yes ?

Corress (looking at me): Arjun, You were a good kid when you came in. What happened then ? Why did you become like this ?

Ma’m, I dont know. I got together with these guys. I lost interest in studies and started going out a lot more. I liked this girl, One and my friends encouraged me to go after her. They have completely brain-washed me. Even they have girlfriends and talk and engage in loadsa rubbish. I want to get away from them ma’m. Isnt that what you want me to say ? Bitch.

I saw the strategic loop she had created here. What sort of character does she preach about ? Turning your friends in , during times of trouble is definitely not the feature you want to instill in your students. Perhaps this place hadnt witnessed her hypocrisy and cunning intentions like we did or they would understand why we say she s not the person she looks.

Me: What has happened to me, ma’m ? Am I a bad kid now ?

Mom understood the counter-sarcasm in my words straightaway.

Mom: Dont you talk to her like that.

I shut up. Sometimes, when parents and teachers go into the same team, its like playing against the referee. You just cant win.

For the next few mins, Corress tried her best to get my side of the story. She took her second best question out.

Corress: Why did you not go there last evening ? Were you afraid ?

Me (smiled): I didnt know they were there. But had I known, I would have stopped them.

Corress:  And be the hero ?

Me: No. its my problem. They dont have to get involved. I was planning to talk to her parents on Monday about how they have wrongly understood the scenario.

Corress: You mean you and One ?

No, I mean Me and Megan fox.

Me: Yes.

Corress: So you tell me ? Whats the truth ? I will believe you.

Me: Me and her are good friends.

Corress: Nothing more ? a lil more ? a special friend ?

Me: As special as Yats is.

She didnt like the punch. It was like a game of chess. When you know what the opposition is trying to do, you crack every move of theirs, they cant do much. But the toughest part is cracking the plot. And it took us 5 mins outside her house to do it. Much more could have been lost had we failed to do that. Corress approached this from a different angle now.

Corress: So Yats was there at her place yesterday. What did he tell you about this ?

Me: When he called me, he said that they spoke to her brother and that Akki said he ll sort this out on Monday. If Yats had seen something unusual, he would have told me.

Corress: How did he call you ?

Me: From his mobile phone.

Corress: Whats with that ? Is he some businessman ? Why do children of your age have a mobile phone ?

Oh, why do grown-ups of your age have a problem with it ? some questions dont have answers.

Corress: You gotta stay away from One.

My mind reached out to her. I could imagine the pressure she would have gone through with her parents first and then the drama with the gang and then at Corress’ place. Not that turning us in was right, but then what we did wasnt either. Stay away ? If there was a time she needed me, well, am gonna be there. You can suspend me or shoot me for all you like. I cant ditch a person in the hour of need – friend, family, girl-friend or some stranger for that matter.

Corress: Dont worry, I wont suspend you. Or any of the others. One’s mom called in the evening amidst the drama and told me that she only wanted to warn you guys and does not want to blackmark your TC’s by suspending you.

Corress went on to tell mom about how I had changed in the past few months and I was getting away from my studies and what not. She requested her to try and keep me away from the gang and that she told the other parents the same thing. My mom agreed to take care of things going forward. One thing was clear and I pointed this out to Mom later. The whole time, she hardly spoke about what happened at One’s place. She was more intent on driving me away from my friends. What noble intentions.

The informal PTA was over. Now it was the turn of the parents.

Yats’ mom: Arjun, you stay away from One.

Oh yea. She pretty much summed up the problem.

JD’s Dad: Even when we were young, there was Tumtum complex. We never hung out there till the end of time like you guys. And why do you need a girl at this age ? At your age, if I tie a saree to a tree, even that ll look like a girl. Learn to keep control of yourself and concentrate on stuff that are more important.

We couldnt believe all this had happened and that we had put our parents through all this. It was night when I reached home and it was dinner time. Inspite of the perhaps the longest day in my life and me being tired from head to toe, I couldnt sleep. Once everyone else had slept, I raided the kitchen and got food.

My mind went back to what One’s mom did by requesting Corress to let us go, scot-free. It was very generous of her. Especially towards me, considering the fact that she had never seen me – the guy who, according to her, has been stalking her daughter and storming the peace out of her house. I hadnt even seen her mum and I was already shit scared of her. I decided to sleep over this. Making decisions in a frenzy or despair or anger never bring correct decisions.

This was a black day in Maverick history. 2 days ago, we were working on HTML notes and joking our way around. 48 hours and a visit to the Corress’ house later, things had turned on their head. I didnt know who was right and wrong and what could have been done and what should not have been done. I was in a state of utter confusion. One more day like this and I wont be able to handle this. Everything had changed. None of our lives would be the same. The Mavericks would never be the same again. The sun would never rise again. Never ever.

Fly high till next week~

Happy Birthday to Nikita Arora, Aniket Agarwal and Saranya Viswanathan.